Returning,
he brought with him a small string of trout. "Do you want to buy some
fish?" he said. "These is nice fresh ones. I ketched 'em this mornin'."
To offer to sell fish to a man who is just about to go out to catch them
for himself might, in most cases, be considered an insult, but it was
quite evident that nothing of the kind was intended by Barney. He
probably thought that if I bought grasshoppers, I might buy fish. "You
kin have 'em for a quarter," he said.
It was derogatory to my pride to buy fish at such a moment, but the man
looked very poor, and there was a shade of anxiety on his face which
touched me. Old Peter stood by without saying a word. "It might be
well," I said, turning to him, "to buy these fish, for we may not catch
enough for supper."
"Such things do happen," said the old man.
"Well," said I, "if we have these we shall feel safe in any case." And I
took the fish and gave the man a quarter. It was not, perhaps, a
professional act, but the trout were well worth the money, and I felt
that I was doing a deed of charity.
Old Peter and I now took our rods, and crossed the road into an enclosed
field, and thence into a wide stretch of grass land, bounded by hills
in front of us and to the right, while a thick forest lay to the left.
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